We had a very keen squad of players at the West Maldon Community Centre on Saturday 11 February ready to play our first under 14 fixture for over a year!!  Sadly, the proposed match with Middlesex did not come to fruition but we were very pleased and grateful to welcome a team of eleven players from the Richmond Junior Chess Club for a friendly match.

February 7th saw 40 rapidly improving Essex Junior Chess players complete their 5th and final train and play day. Players were separated into small groups by grade with the expert group led by International Master Richard Pert (232 grade), Group 2 led by professional coach Tom Villiers (FIDE grade 2145), Group 3 led by Chess Coach Robin Slade with Essex's Junior Chess Chairman, Declan Kilcline, providing some personal coaching to Group 4.

The London Junior Chess Championships have recently concluded and several Essex players took part in the various events against some of the best juniors in the southern counties.

Sarah Weersing was the top scoring girl in the under 14 Major Section and became the SCCU Girls u14 Champion.  In the under 14 Minor Section Urbi Modhura was the Leading Girl (finishing just above her twin sister Purba Audhora).  Probably the best result by a boy from Essex was achieved by Findlay Lister who finished =4^th in the Under 12 Major Section.

Essex Juniors are rapidly improving their chess

Sunday, December 4th saw 36 Essex Juniors ranging in age from 6 to 13 travel to Writtle, Chelmsford for six hours of training, graded games and fun. With an excellent player:coach ratio of 9:1, these lucky juniors received expert coaching from 4 coaches with average grades exceeding 200, led by International Master, Richard Pert, with excellent support from Tom Villiers, Robin Slade and Russell White

The Second Essex Junior Grand Prix event was held at the Kingswood Primary School, Basildon on Sunday, 20 November 2016.  There were four sections plus juniors over 14 could compete for prizes in the Open Section.

Essex players faced fierce competition from many players based outside the county, especially with this event offering the chance to qualify for the London Junior Chess Championships.

Under 6-8

1st Daniel Shek (Yately Manor School) 5.5/6

2nd Rowan Kent (Woodbridge School) 5

Under 10

The Tournament Protocol for Essex Junior Grand Prix events has recently been reviewed by the EJCA Committee.  The Protocol may be viewed on this website under Results/Tournaments/Grand Prix/Grand Prix Rules.

Essex's own WCM Anum Sheik (ECF Player of the Year) is playing in the World Championships starting tomorrow.  See link http://www.chess-results.com/tnr238132.aspx?lan=1&art=25&fedb=ENG&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

The 1^st Essex Junior Grand Prix of 2016/17 was held at the Kings Road Primary School, Chelmsford on 8 October and attracted 85 entrants, including some aspiring players from other counties.

Results in the various age groups were as follows

Under 8

1^st  Harry Zheng (Boreham) 6/6

2^nd Olga Latypova (Chelmsford) 5/6

3^rd on tie break Max Yau (Westcliff-on-Sea) 4/6

Under 10

1^st Bhramav Rajesh (Colchester) 6/6